RIT/NTID Science Fair Contest Winners Announced

Students with Hearing Loss Competed for Cash and School Honors

Rochester Institute of Technology has announced the winners of its second National Science Fair for Deaf and Hard-of- hearing students.

A 3-D diagram entitled Atoms and Molecules, won Lauren Berger, a sixth-grader from Bay Trail Middle School in Penfield, N.Y., first place in the middle school division of RIT’s second annual National Science Fair for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students.

Tenth-grader Max Bartels of Ralph R. McKee High School in Brooklyn, N.Y., took first place in the high school division with his project, Trauma Repair of the Brain, which examined how the brain repairs itself after sustaining a major injury.

The first place team entry went to two students from Model Secondary School for the Deaf in Washington, D.C. Two 11th graders, Lateefah Patterson of Brockport, N.Y., and Kelsey Wessman of Boise, Idaho, collaborated on their project, A Phenology Study of Budburst in Acer Saccarinum and Pyrus Coronaria, in which they observed the cycle of plant growth in an attempt to understand the effect of environmental factors on the timing of budburst.

Students with hearing loss from all over the country in grades 6 – 12 competed in the science fair for cash prizes and honors for their school.

“Competitions like this offer excitement and a sense of achievement for students while encouraging them to think about the future,” said Dr. Gerard Buckley, assistant vice president for college advancement at RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf. “Parents, teachers and the students themselves enjoy the opportunity to demonstrate excellent work.”

Deadline for submitting projects for the next year’s science fair is January 15, 2008. For more information, visit www.rit.edu/NTID/ScienceFair.

RIT is internationally recognized as a leader in computing, engineering, imaging technology, fine and applied arts, and for providing unparalleled support services for students with hearing loss. RIT is home to NTID where more than 1,100 students with hearing loss from around the world study, live and socialize with 14,400 hearing students on RIT’s Rochester, N.Y., campus. For more information, visit www.ntid.rit.edu.